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It’s All Geek to Me

Something relatively unexpected happened this year. Pulses raced, palms got sweaty and we tweeted girlish giggles into the warm heart of the internet. By the time this week’s final came around, one thing was obvious: we had fallen in love with the University Challenge competitors.

We’re not the only ones. Not only are there hundreds of tweets professing their undying love, there’s a whole Tumblr dedicated to the ‘cuties of University Challenge’. It’s pretty clear that the geeks are inheriting our hearts.

But how do the boffins of the small screen stand up against TV’s other heartthrobs? Sure, our hearts belong to the University Challenge contestants but can Richard Osman beat Poldark? Do the Big Bang Theory crew’s brains outmatch the TOWIE lot’s beauty? Is Professor Alice Roberts more of a catch than Bear Grylls?

Poldark vs Richard Osman

Ross Poldark’s got a lot going for him. His washboard abs, winning smile and cavalier attitude have won him a legion of fans nationwide. But he’s got his issues – he can surely only do so much topless tilling of the Cornish fields before the cracks of a failing business, fleeing fiancée and family tragedy start to show.

There’s no such struggle with Richard. He’s got anecdotes coming out of his ears, more facts than a factory and had the brainpower to create beard-twiddlingly difficult gameshow Pointless. Plus, he won Heat magazine’s weird crush award in 2012. We haven’t found any evidence of Poldark winning anything similar in the 1780s… Game, set, match to Mr. Osman.

What a man.

Poldark is on BBC 1, Sundays at 9pm. Richard Osman appears in Pointless on BBC 1, weekdays at 5.15pm.

TOWIE vs Big Bang Theory

Are tanning beds really better than tangential tables? If you’re asking Brentwood’s finest, they would answer with a firm yes. After all, their good looks and silver tongues have gilded innumerate relationships over the last five years. But we shouldn’t write off their brainpower- with the amount of terms that Joey Essex has come up with, he’s practically a modern day Dr. Seuss.

The cast of the Big Bang Theory don’t have the Essex charm. They’re more interested in reams of analytics than looking reem. If they tell you to shut up, it’s because they want to concentrate on their research, not because they don’t believe you. But what they lack in coquettish charm, they more than make up for in mind-bending brainpower and hilarious jokes.

Clearly, the only way is science.

Catch up on the last series of The Only Way is Essex on the ITV Hub. A double bill of The Big Bang Theory is on E4, weekdays from 6pm.

Bear Grylls vs Professor Alice Roberts

If the way to the heart is through the stomach, Bear Grylls is on to a loser. Sure, he’s got that whole Tarzan man-gone-wild thing about him but if he went on ITV’s Dinner Date with a three course meal of raw snake, larvae and decomposing camel (topped off with a pint of his own homebrew), we’re fairly certain that he’d be hard pushed to find a date.

Professor Alice Roberts, on the other hand, is all about making us better people. She tells us which apple a day will keep the doctor away in her new program, Britain’s Favourite Foods – where we also find out that eating cheese can help us lose fat. She’s not only a genius, but a woman after our own hearts.
With a braeburn in one hand and macaroni cheese in the oven, there can only be one winner.

The Island with Bear Grylls airs is on Channel 4, Weds and Thurs at 9pm.

Britain’s Favourite Foods can be streamed on iPlayer now.

There you go, completely non-scientific proof that geeks rule. Do the Masterminds master your affection? Will you Only Connect with boffins now? Tweet us @FreeviewTV if you’re falling Egghead over heels in love with TV’s geeks…